I read the book when it came out. My people are from the Appalachian region of western WV bordering on eastern KY. My folks took the Hillbilly Highway (rt 23) to Ohio in the early 60s, and that is where I grew up. I’m a proud hillbilly.
As Tell It Right's post 38 (above) points out, the people who come from there, for all its grinding poverty, do not want to leave. They are attached to their extended families and their home. Depending where one lives, there are few places in the U.S. as beautiful as the Appalachians and surrounding piedmonts.
“I’m a proud hillbilly.“
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My mother who grew up hillbilly in Higdon Alabama on Sand Mountain always said with a smile on her face, “I’m proud to be a hillbilly because you know I am sincere.” Her grandfather settled Higdon...it’s hardly populated. She moved to Chattanooga with her family as a teen and she went to college and ended up working for the FBI in Chicago where I was born. We moved back to Chattanooga when I was a child and I always enjoyed going to the large family reunions and visiting relatives in Higdon. A whole different world. Fond memories.